It was Brentford’s defence that left Thomas Frank purring despite his side showcasing a ruthlessness in attack as they thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 on Saturday.

Josh Dasilva’s brace along with Emiliano Marcondes, Bryan Mbuemo and Tariqe Fosu strikes swept Garry Monk’s Owls side aside at Griffin Park and ended a five-game winless run.

The Brentford boss understandably commended his forwards’ display but it was the rearguard of Rico Henry, Henrik Dalsgaard, Ethan Pinnock and Julien Jeanvier that pleased Frank the most having registered a clean sheet for the first time in ten attempts.

“Brentford Football Club and this team, we knew we would be an offensive threat but the biggest thing was the desire to defend,” Frank said.

“The last six or seven games hasn’t been as good.

“We conceded soft goals, strange goals, the headline today was the desire to defend.

“You saw fantastic blocks in there, tackles, we started on the front foot.

“We always look for four things: top attitude, hard work, performance and togetherness.

“And we had the right attitude from the first second to the last.”

Victory lifts Brentford above Nottingham Forest into fourth and gives them a five point cushion over Bristol City in seventh.

The Bees, along with West Brom in second, have scored the most in the division this season, and combined with their defence have the best goal difference in the league.

“Offensively we played some beautiful football,” he added.

“We like to dominate the game on the ball.

“What I like when we attack is we’ve been good at playing the ball in behind earlier.

“Earlier crosses, through balls, down the sides, I’m happy we have that variety in the way we attack.

“When we are on it and play with tempo on the ball and intensity off the ball, and implement that into the style of play, then we are difficult to play against.”

Brentford travel to third place Fulham on Friday night.